Tangled Justice
November 30, 2024 at 02:48AMFifteen-year-old Paula Cooper murdered Ruth Pelke in 1985, stabbing the elderly bible studies teacher over 30 times. There were accomplices, however Cooper was the only one sentenced to death after Jack Crawford, Lake County’s head prosecutor, did some illegal judge shopping. Crawford aspired to political office and knew that for murder, “66 percent of Americans favor a death sentence.” John J. Lennon reviews Seventy Times Seven: A True Story of Murder and Mercy by Alex Mar, viewing Paula Cooper’s case and circumstances through the lens of his own views on punishment and justice as a man incarcerated for 25 years-to-life for murder, drug sales, and gun possession.
Forgiveness is deeply complex. Should those who want it ask for it? Should those who forgive be celebrated over those who don’t? If they do forgive, should they do so publicly, and constantly? When I think of Bill Pelke speaking to crowds about forgiving Paula for what she did to his grandmother, I wonder if I’m facing a similar dilemma with my writing. I’ve written in detail about how I came to kill a man. It was brutal; I was brutal. His sister, in response to an essay I wrote, requested that I not name her brother in my future writings. So I don’t.
These days, if I do mention my crime in my writing—and I know it’s often what interests editors about my life—I use it as an entry point to relate to my subjects. This kind of writing pushes me to self-discovery, but I’d like to think it also lets society know that people like me have the ability to understand what motivates our actions, both internally and externally, to investigate our warped instincts and desires, and to realize that we caused tremendous damage. I didn’t come to that realization when the judge sentenced me, or when I rationalized with the knockaround guys in the prison yard—I discovered it on the page. Maybe readers can see that there is more to the people who murder. Yet I do think about the sister of the man I killed reading my words. I hate that they may compound her hurt.
from Longreads https://longreads.com/2024/11/29/tangled-justice/
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